The Tomorrow People: "Pilot"Review

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Where is your past?

By Jim McMahon

Premiering Wednesday on the CW, The Tomorrow People is a remake of a British show from the 70’s about teenagers who develop super powers fighting against a powerful organization that wants them contained. This update features a very CW cast of attractive twentysomethings playing teenagers and Mark Pellegrino (Lost, Supernatural) as the man who wants to control (or eliminate?) them. The pilot is an interesting, if derivative, hour that uses its nifty special effects judiciously and moves fast to get the story going.

Robbie Amell -- yes, the cousin of Arrow star Stephen Amell -- stars as Stephen Jameson, a Brooklyn teenager living with his mom and younger brother, who has hit some hard times. He’s disliked at school, he’s hearing a woman’s voice in his head and his sleepwalking has become enough of a problem that the neighbors are now threatening to call the cops - all while his mom takes on extra shifts to pay the mounting bills for all his doctors. Their no-good dad skipped out on them years ago, but he still has some fond flashbacks of Dad doing slight-of-hand magic tricks for him as a kid.

Mark Pellegrino as Dr. Jedikiah Price in The Tomorrow People.

Soon he’s dropped into a world where, naturally, there’s a war going on that he never knew existed and he’s being heavily sought by both sides. The superpowered contingent is called “The Tomorrow People,” whose powers include “the three ‘T’s’,” teleportation, telepathy and telekinesis. Their enemy is a shady, powerful group called Ultra, run by Dr. Price (Pellegrino) who actually makes some valid points about why the Tomorrow People should be kept track of. The teleportation effects are really well-done without being overused while the fight scenes are fast, energetic and cleverly staged (no blurry, shaky camerawork to skimp on stunts). With a story reminiscent of The Matrix and Star Wars (and a quick nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey), the pilot charts his hero’s journey from troubled teen to reluctant Chosen One to all-in.

But as the lead character and our eyes into this world, Stephen spends most of this first hour being very wishy-washy - alternately arguing with the Tomorrow People and wanting no part of their fight and then fiercely defending them. By the end he seems to have come to a decision that points towards the direction the show will go in its first few episodes, but getting there feels much more like the demands of the story putting him where he is rather than the natural progression of a character.

Exit Theatre Mode

Of course, this is just the pilot and there’s plenty of time for more character development (for Stephen as well as the rest of the characters) and there are a few encouraging wrinkles in the back half of this first hour that hint at a potentially more complex show. As a pilot episode, it does its job well in setting up the world and the players quickly, but it doesn’t have a strong hook since it feels so familiar. As with any series it could go either way in the coming weeks, but there’s enough here to have me interested in watching more, and hoping things become more unpredictable.

The Tomorrow People premieres Wednesday, October 9th at 9pm on The CW.